A Gateway to Business Press
How do you get the country's biggest daily to seek
out a young, private company?
Security break-ins create a hyper-competitive PR mix
with vendors jockeying to be the one who knows best.
How does Guardium get more than its share?
The database security company just landed in USA Today through an
unconventional, blog-centric strategy. Consistent,
well-timed outreach broke through with online
coverage,
and paved the way for insider-access when the same
reporter was trying to get to the bottom of breaking
news - and now needed Guardium's insight.
Respected vs. Rejected
USA Today, like all national newspapers, only
covers the biggest breaches. So how do you get its
security reporters to reach out at crunch time?
- Be a resource. An unfamiliar - or worse,
annoying - name in a reporter's inbox will be ignored
(or already filtered to a spam folder). Be known as
someone who can offer an insightful perspective on
breaking news and national big-picture trends. We
did this for Guardium with recent Hannaford and
Harvard breaches. We sent helpful stories every
month or so - often without pitching our clients. Our
goal was to show that we focus on - and
understand - the issues on their readers' minds.
- Think blogs. USA Today's security
reporters write the popular Zero Day Threat
blog.
Many stories that don't get into print get covered here.
Before the print quote, Guardium was in two Zero Day Threat
stories, with original perspective that fit into larger
stories, such as the size of the database security
market.
- Remember your
mother.
When we submitted quotes around previous
breaches, we delivered memorable quotes in
understandable-as-breakfast language. Reporters
and editors avoid
industry jargon, preferring compelling analogies and
sound bites that everyone can grasp. Our reporters
trusted us to deliver.
Blog-driven, file-it-now editorial pressures open new
doors for on-the-spot interviews, emailed quotes and
lasting relationships that can both target - and
define - new markets.
Wikipedia: Cracking the Code
Why would you let competitors define your
market?
They are if you don't have the right Wikipedia
entries.
The first step is your company's entry, of
course - and
it's no shoe-in. The Wiki team prides itself
on its non-
profit stance, which means that companies
have to
play by their rules. (See below for the
rules, and how
to make them work in your favor.)
Even better is owning how your category is
defined.
These are general phrases that are most
searched by
anyone looking to get smarter about the
field. The
good news is that some of these terms are
still up for
grabs - even though they're overcrowded on the
search engines. And even if someone has already
written about the topics you care most about,
you can -
and should - edit them. Basically, you get the
last
word.
6 Ways to Get Your Wiki Through
Controlling what's said isn't so easy.
First, Wikipedia's editors vigilantly police
content and
delete articles they consider spam or
marketing hype. They even blacklist users and
companies they
think
are violating its premise of providing fair,
helpful
information. Even your IP address is a flag
for conflict
of interest.
Here are some top strategies we're using to
help our
clients pass the test - and come out on top
of the edit
cycle:
- Do your homework. Read other
articles to
get a good feel for both style and audience.
Following
an established style can help you avoid unwanted
attention -
while still giving you a foundation for
telling your story.
EMC Corporation and Abbott Laboratories are good examples; we
recently wrote the entry for Axeda .
- Just the facts. Keep it clean:
who, what,
when, where, why and how of your company are all
that's needed. Avoid exaggeration and marketing
claims.
- Be newsworthy. Not everyone
deserves -
or gets - a Wikipedia page. Editors pass
judgment,
based, in part, on credentials and data in
your article.
Include awards, recognition and media
coverage, with
direct quotes, and weave it into the story.
Do it well,
and it becomes an accepted truth.
- Avoid employee raves and use trusted
Wiki 'friends' instead. These third
parties have
written or edited other posts and are considered
credible, which can help vet your entry more
quickly.
No money is exchanged.
- Weave your Web. On every entry,
create a
Web of links connecting your company to core
industry
terms. This helps readers understand how your
technology works, who it is for and why it is
important.
Including acronyms helps readers associate your
technology with industry terminology, a
Wiki-friendly
approach which recognizes that there are many
ways
to define your market.
- Acknowledge competitors. Including
competitors in your company's page helps
establish
credibility. Yes, it's a little risky, but
you can pick those
to name and aim up, rather than down.
It Ain't Over
All articles are works in progress. The
Wikipedia
community will edit whatever you write,
whenever it
wants. Monitor your postings for changes,
especially to
accuracy. Though Wikipedia offers a free 'watch'
feature, it's pretty basic. For faster
response time and
better accuracy, use specialized tools like
trackengine.com,
changenotes.com,
urlywarning.net
and
changedetect.com.
What now?
Even if you're not ready to create your own
entries, get
smart. Three simple steps:
- See if someone has already written about
you.
- Check your competitors for listings.
- And check the terms you're already paying
for, as
keywords on Google.
|
|
In Our Corner
"Corporate Ink ties our core
competencies with emerging market trends to tell
stories that resonate with our diverse audience,
including global prospects, customers and partners"
-Jeff Nigriny
chief security officer
Exostar
|
Clients 
